


Can't Change, Even If I Try

by sky_faith



Category: Wynonna Earp (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Cheerleader Waverly Earp, F/F, Football player Nicole Haught, Mutual Pining, Not really though, Oblivious Wynonna Earp, There's a little Champ/Waverly but it finishes pretty quickly, Wayhaught - Freeform, kind of slow burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-03
Updated: 2018-09-18
Packaged: 2019-06-01 16:26:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 15,317
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15147134
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sky_faith/pseuds/sky_faith
Summary: The high school football AU nobody asked for. Nicole Haught is the new kid in town and just wants to finish her senior year where she belongs -- on the varsity football team as quarterback. Champ Hardy will just have to suck it up.





	1. Chapter 1

Moving is never easy but moving while in high school? That’s some sort of hell you should never put a teenager through -- or at least that was Nicole Haught’s opinion. Starting senior year of high school is scary enough but starting senior year in a whole new town and thus a whole new school? That’s torture. But, as her parents have stressed, it’s life and life sucks sometimes. 

\---

“Nicole! Come on, get up. This is getting ridiculous; you need to go to school.”

“Mom, it’s like 5 in the morning. No way does Purgatory High actually start at 6.”

“It is  _ 6 _ in the morning. Purgatory High starts at  _ 7 _ and, if you want any type of transportation other than you feet, you will get in the car in 20 minutes.” Nicole’s mom finished that statement with the bathroom door shutting a little too hard to be anything but a slam.

With a groan, Nicole gets out of bed and into some clothes.  _ One hell of a way to start a school year _ , she thinks. Knowing her parents, she knows she shouldn’t expect any less. They’re not really the type that has good mornings. Just mornings. Just another thing that she has no control over.

As soon as she gets to school, Nicole tries to find her first period class. Math is just the way she didn’t want to start this Monday and every day for this whole shitty year _. _ As she makes her way through the halls, she sees posters and petitions lining the walls. The start of the year always has all the clubs and activities advocating for new members. She sees a sign-up sheet for the football team tryouts and stops short. Nicole had played on the varsity football team at her last school but it was a struggle to have them even let her even tryout. Purgatory, being a small town in the middle of nowhere, will probably make things harder to get any sort of approval. From what she can tell, they’ll probably not be too keen to have her, a girl, trying out for a Man’s Sport™. Even so, she writes her name neatly on the next line available.

Just as she’s finished crossing that final “t”, a guy shoulders her hard into the wall and laughs.

“Nice joke, Red. Like coach would let a girl on the team. Cheerleading sheet is across the hall, dumbass,” the guy who she figures must be a football player sneers at her. He has some sort of entourage following him who laugh when he finishes. 

_ Great, already trouble.  _ Nicole thinks. She honestly does try to stay away from it as best as possible but things seem to gravitate towards her. Just as she opens her mouth to tell him off, a girl rounds the corner cutting her off.

“Champ! Cut it out. It’s the first day of school. Do you seriously want to get in trouble already?” The girl says while getting in between Nicole and the asshole who she now knows is called Champ. Gross.

“Waverly, relax. I was just talking with her. Honest,” Champ says to the girl while putting both his hands on her arms. Nicole doesn’t try to hide her eye roll as she scoots around the girl.  

“Oh, I’m sorry, I’m new. Is shoving people into walls a customary greeting in the country? Or is it just Purgatory High’s tradition?” Nicole asks. While she tries to stay out of trouble, she’s not so great at keeping her mouth shut.

“Champ, did you  _ seriously  _ shove her in the wall? I thought you wanted to be better this year. Remember? Start on the right foot and graduate on time? Or even still be allowed on the football team,” Waverly says. It almost sounds pleading but, at the same time, like she is telling him exactly what to do. 

“Babe, I swear it’s not like that-”

“Get to class, Champ,” Waverly cuts him off. “First period is starting soon.” She punctuates it with a kiss on the cheek and, sulking the entire time, Champ walks off. “I am so sorry he’s like that. You’re new, right?”

“Uh,” Nicole starts, all of a sudden feeling like she can’t form a single thought. Damn is she cute. “Yeah. Just moved her last week.”

“Well, welcome to Purgatory!” She replies with a smile that could light up the night sky. “I’m Waverly, Waverly Earp. I can show you around if you want.”

“Sure, yeah. I’d like that,” Nicole manages to say, handing over her schedule. It dawns on her that she never introduced herself. “Nicole! My name is Nicole. Nicole Haught.”

“Well, nice to meet you, Nicole,” Waverly smiles. She studies Nicole’s schedule before handing it back. “We have calc together and lunch!” Nicole returns her smile with one equally bright.

“Sweet. At least we can stew together in first period calculus,” she says, laughing a little. 

“That sounds fantastic,” Waverly says. “It’s  **_actually_ ** right around the corner!” Nicole loves the sing-song tone in her voice. It’s refreshing -- even at 6:50 am. 

The two girls walk the two seconds to the classroom and find two desks next to each other. Nicole starts to believe that first period math might not turn out to be as awful as she first thought. 

The rest of the day is pretty uneventful. Nicole finds her way around school with pretty much no trouble. It’s a much smaller school than the one she left so it wasn’t as hard to find her way. The only downside is catching Waverly and Champ sucking face every now and again. It’s not like she cares so much about the fact that any corner she turns may lead her right to their next weird make-out spot. What Nicole cares about is the fact that Waverly Earp deserves so much better than the guy currently groping her ass. 

Two o’clock couldn’t roll around fast enough. Since she signed up for football tryouts, she needed to go home and get into some sort of work out gear and get back to the field before 4. Before she could race home, she runs straight into a woman who she hadn’t seen. Too old to be in high school, the woman was standing out in the parking lot waiting for someone. 

“Oh, shit. Sorry,” Nicole saya, looking up to see who exactly it was she almost knocked over.

“Woah, girl. Where’s the fire?” The woman replies, brushing herself off.

“I’m really sorry. I’ll watch where I’m going next time,” she says, trying to get back en route home as fast as possible.

“Wynonna! Hey!” She hears a familiar voice call from behind. Waverly. “Oh hey! Nicole!” She says as she approaches, “This is my sister, Wynonna. Wynonna, this is Nicole Haught. She’s new in town and I’ve been showing her around.” Wynonna’s face changed from annoyance to mischief all in a split second.

“Well, Haught Sauce, welcome to town,” she says with a wink. Nicole silently prayed that that nickname would not stick. “As you’ll quickly find out, Waverly is the nicest person in town. We had a vote. She got a sash.”

“Wynonna —” Waverly started.

“Baby girl, you know that’s not even a lie though.” 

“I know but it’s still kinda embarrassing for your sister to tell to your new friend,” Waverly half whispers. Nicole tries to hide a smile when she hears her call her her friend. She didn’t really expect to make many friends this year seeing that everyone else has known each other much longer and she definitely didn’t expect to make a friend who is quite literally the nicest in town.

“It was very nice meeting you, Wynonna. Sorry again for running into you,” Nicole blurts out in one long breath. “I’ve really got to go but I’ll see you around Waverly.”

“Oh, okay! See you around,” Waverly says, flashing that million dollar smile. 

\---

When Nicole arrives back at school, she heads straight to the football field. At the field, there’s a clump of teenage boys on one end and a clump of mostly teenage girls at the other. They looked like a middle school dance; not wanting to get too close to each other but sharing the same space. It was daunting to say the least to walk right into the space with the boys but Nicole went in with all the bravado she can muster. She is determined to be the best of them and claim her rightful spot as their quarterback so she had to be able to show them no weakness.

Her confidence was evident but it didn’t stop the confused looks she gets when walking into crowd. Some of the guys stare her down and others check her out as she grabs the number corresponding to her name placement on the sign-up sheet. Neither of those responses feel great but it’s better than any of them actually speaking up or pulling a Champ and physically getting in the way. Speaking of Champ, Nicole finds his face in the crowd at the other end. He quickly makes eye contact with her and opens his mouth. As if on cue, the coach walks over and starts the official tryouts.

“Alright boys,” the coach yells while scanning the crowd. “Let’s get going. Give me three laps around the field and lead right into stretches. I want you all to stick together. Remember, you’re trying for a team.”

Right as the group starts to take off in their run, the coach spots Nicole in the front.

“Woah there. You,” the coach says, glancing down at his clipboard. “Haught, get over here for a second.” Nicole feels her stomach drop a little but jogs over quickly.

“Yes, sir,” she says after getting over to him. “Is there something you need?”

“Haught, you’re new right? Haven’t seen your face ‘round town before.”

“Yes, sir. Just arrived last week.”

“Well, I just thought I should warn you most of Purgatory won’t take well to a girl on our football team but I’ll allow you to try-out and give you a fair shot. Just don’t let the guys get into your head too much, okay?” 

Nicole is visibly taken aback. She did not expect that to go over so easily. 

“Thank you, sir,” she swiftly replies. 

“Please, call me Nedley. I don’t quite like the ‘sir’ title. Now go catch up to the group.”

Nicole starts off in a sprint that she didn’t know she had in her but is more than grateful to find. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Football tryouts happen but turn into a little more. Just for clarity, this is American football. I'm American and it's pretty much a staple at every high school here.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys for the kudos and comments! As always, comments are more than welcome as well as any constructive criticism :)

Nicole ends up catching up to the group rather quickly. As the team passes the cheerleaders, she lets her eyes wander over to them for a minute. The great thing about a new school is the fresh start. Nicole doesn’t have to pretend to be into any of the guys. She doesn’t have to even acknowledge their advances like she used to. She can also 100% check out the girls if her heart desires (and it does).

As she’s looking at the cheerleaders, a specific one leading the stretches catches her eye. Nicole can’t go very long at all without seeing Waverly Earp and apparently football tryouts are no exception. She could get used to this. Waverly turns her head as if she feels Nicole looking and gives her a wave while she runs by. Nicole smiles and almost runs into the guy running in front of her.  _ God, please don’t have seen that.  _ She absolutely did. Nicole hears Waverly laugh a little and she turns as red as her own hair. It gives her the kick in the ass she needs though to get up to the front of the pack. Who knew embarrassment was the better than any sort of energy supplement? 

Tryouts are over as quick as they started and Nicole is quite literally dripping with sweat. She tries to wipe some of it off her face with her arm but that ends up not helping much seeing they’re equally gross. Nedley really worked them to the bone but she has been through worse before so it wasn’t anything she couldn’t handle. 

“Alright, great work out there today guys,” Nedley starts. “We’re going to have a round of cuts and one more day of tryouts for both the JV and the varsity teams. Seeing that you make one of them, practices will start Wednesday and Thursday respectively so make sure you work out your schedule beforehand. The list of cuts will be posted with the number you’re wearing on your shirt now tomorrow morning by the gym. Good luck.” 

With that, the whole group pretty much disperses. Nicole hangs around for a second to catch her breath a bit better and refill her water bottle with some of the guys. She looks back over to the cheerleading tryouts and notices Waverly looking over towards her as well.  _ She’s probably looking for Champ. He tried out over here too. Why the hell would she even be looking for you?  _ Nicole finds herself thinking. Why wouldn’t she be looking for her? Waverly is her friend — her first and only friend at that. And, like, the nicest person she’s ever met. Nicole decides to give her a small wave from across the field and sees Waverly smile as she gives her a small wave back. Nicole’s head whips around to makes sure she’s the one the wave was intended for and, after seeing Champ with his back turned, talking with his friends, she feels pretty confident it was. 

“Hey, number eight!” Nicole hears come from behind her. Number eight is 100% her number so she turns around. She sees a guy who doesn’t quite look like he belongs on any sort of football team jogging over to her. He’s a bit shorter than everyone else and gives off a much more positive aire than anyone else on this field, besides maybe Waverly. But he may give her a run for her money. He smiles the second biggest smile Nicole’s seen here. 

“Oh hey,” Nicole glances down at his shirt, “number twenty five. What’s up?”

“Just wanted to introduce myself. You  **killed** out there. I’m Jeremy. Chetri. I’m going out for kicker,” he says practically all in one breath. Nicole takes a second to process everything with a light smile on her face. Being a kicker would definitely make sense for him. It would be surprising if he was going for anything else. Well, less surprising and more funny. She can’t imagine seeing Jeremy as a lineman or even a receiver. 

“Thank you,” she laughs. “I’m Nicole Haught. I’m going out for QB so we won’t really be going up against each other, I guess.” She lets out a nervous laugh and Jeremy responds with a genuine one.

“Well, uh, good luck to you! I’ve heard Champ Hardy was last years starting QB for the varsity team so there might be fierce competition. I just transferred here so I’m not sure how fierce it will be…”

“I just transferred too so fingers crossed, I guess,” Nicole says. Of course Champ was starting QB. Just one more thing that might make this place a living hell for her. At least Jeremy seems nice. “I should get going. My parents will be expecting me home at any minute. I’ll see you tomorrow though.”

“See you tomorrow!” Jeremy pretty much shouts at her as she turns to leave. Right as she starts making the walk home, she hears some shouting from behind the gym. She stops dead in her tracks when she realizes it’s not the cheerleading team shouting for a drill or cheer but more of an angry shout in a woman’s voice.  _ Waverly. _ She can’t quite make out what she’s saying but knows it’s probably not something all too nice. Nicole immediately doubles back to school to make sure everything is okay. She’s not one to leave when she hears another person in any sort of possible trouble. Reaching the gym in no time flat, Nicole quietly turns the corner to try to get a look at the sorry person Waverly is shouting at. 

“I’m not some sort of child, Champ!”

“I never even implied you were, Waves. Please chill out,” Champ replies, honestly looking a little drained. 

“Don’t tell me to chill out.” 

“Jeeze, Waverly. Sorry! Just-just get into the truck. I’ll drop you off by Shorty’s.” He gives her the worst puppy dog eyes Nicole has ever witnessed.

“Woah,” Nicole interrupts. No way was she going to let  **anyone** coerce someone into a truck. Both heads whip around to her. “Sorry. I was just coming back to grab my water bottle,” she says unconvincingly and lifts her water bottle. Nicole makes eye contact with Waverly. “Everything okay?”

“Jesus Christ, Haught. You haven’t even been here a day and you already think you own the place, huh?” Champ spits out at her.

“I-uh-no. I just heard shouting and wanted to make sure everything was cool. You cool, Champ? Waverly?”

“I’m cool. Waverly, get into the truck. Let’s go. Gus’ll be waiting for you.”

“You know what? I’ll walk,” Waverly says. “Or, better yet,” she says pulling out her phone, “just get Wynonna to drive me home.” Champ groans.

“You  _ know _ it is past 6 and Wynonna won’t be able to drive. She’s probably way too wasted already.” 

“Don’t pretend you know anything about my sister,” Waverly replies, already getting ready to take on the fight again.

“Woah, Waverly. You’re headed to Shorty’s right?” Nicole asks. Waverly looks over to her and nods. “Okay, so, that’s on my way home and I don’t have a car yet so we can walk there together if you’d like.”   
“Seriously, Nicole —” Champ starts before it’s Waverly’s turn to cut him off. 

“Sure,” she says, looking straight at Champ. “I’d appreciate that. Champ, I’ll talk to you tomorrow. We  _ both _ need to ‘chill out.’” With that, Waverly just walks off, not even waiting to see if Nicole was with her.

“Bye, Champ,” Nicole mutters as she goes to catch up with Waverly. She knows this isn’t going to help her in the long run with staying out of trouble. Hell, this is definitely going to cause trouble probably quite quickly for her. Tryouts will definitely be interesting tomorrow.

Nicole manages to catch up to Waverly but has to power-walk to stay in time with her. So not how she wanted to walk home after hours of running and physical activity. She’s glad to have gotten Waverly out of what seemed to be a very uncomfortable and volatile situation but she just wishes she would slow down a little. As if Waverly could read her mind, the other girl slows down to a very casual walking pace.

“Sorry you had to see that,” Waverly practically whispers.

“No need to apologize.”

“No, really. Champ and I don’t fight all that often and, when we do, I feel like I completely blow up,” Waverly says, covering her face with her hands. “It’s not fair to him. Or anyone, really. It’s just that every little thing that bothers me gets pent-up inside and it comes out when I can’t take anymore.”

“Hey,” Nicole says, hesitantly placing a hand on her shoulder for a second. “Things don’t have to be perfect. You shouldn’t let things get bottled up. Let him know when and what bothers you. Relationships require communication. You don’t have to talk about it with me if you don’t want to but I’m here if you do.”

“Oh god,” Waverly groans, leaning her head back and bringing her hands down. “You’re being way too nice to me and I’m literally dumping my relationship crap on you and you barely know me.”

“You barely know me, too. But, you definitely have not dumped anything on me. Don’t worry about that. Seriously.”   
“It’s just so frustrating dating this boy. Man. Guy. Whatever. He’s so sweet sometimes and cute all the time,” Waverly says, looking everywhere but Nicole. “I just feel like he doesn’t listen to me.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Do you have a boyfriend?” Waverly asks quickly, staring at Nicole. Nicole for some reason feels herself turn bright red.

“Uh… no,” She says hesitantly.

“Well, did you have a boyfriend at your old school?”

“Not really, no. Not a boyfriend. I was kinda seeing someone but we broke it off pretty mutually once I found out we were moving.”

“Oh,” Waverly starts. “Sorry.”

“Why?” Nicole asks. 

“Because it sucks going through a break-up. Especially a break-up  _ and _ moving at the same time,” Waverly says, still looking only at Nicole now with slight concern in her eyes.

“Yeah but this was really nothing. Shae and I were very casual. It was fun while it lasted but the only thing hard about this is moving,” Nicole says. She slows down to a stop causing Waverly to stop with her. Shorty’s was closer than either one of them wanted to be. “This is you’re stop.”

“Oh, yeah,” Waverly says. She finally pulls her eyes away from Nicole to look up at the Shorty’s sign. “Shae, though… was he nice? Did he actually listen to you?” Nicole holds her breath for a second before responding causing Waverly to look back at her, making eye contact this time.

“She,” she starts, maintaining the eye contact as best she could, “was actually very cool. We, uh, didn’t talk much, actually. Not about anything important, that is.” Nicole was trying to read Waverly’s face while saying that but Waverly doesn’t seem to have any adverse response whatsoever.

“Oh,” Waverly says and, in the beat that Waverly pauses, Nicole seriously thinks she’s going to be judgemental. Instead, Waverly laughs. “Then that’s not much help with my situation.” Nicole lets out the breath she initially held and lets out a small laugh.

“Yeah, I guess not,” she says with a smile. How did she ever think Waverly would care that she dated a girl. It’s Waverly. “I wish I had some experience in the ‘guy’ department to help you out. Well, more than a middle school boyfriend. And without actually dating a guy.” Waverly smiles widely at her.

“Yeah. Sometimes dating guys sucks,” Waverly says. Nicole quirks her head a little but doesn’t say anything about how maybe dating guys might be the problem. Instead, she decides to return Waverly’s smile. Waverly’s eyes brighten a little. “Would you like to come in? I have a room above the bar that I do homework and stuff in. My Aunt Gus would not mind if you came up there with me.”

“Can I get a rain check on that? My parents were expecting me at home about 10 minutes ago. If I don’t show up soon, my phone might blow up with messages and I wouldn’t be surprised if the Sheriff was called.” Waverly laughs at that and butterflies take off inside Nicole.

“Yeah,” Waverly says, “I’ll hold you to that rain check. We will definitely need to do some calculus homework in the future and I wouldn’t mind doing it together. If you want to.”

“Yeah, okay,” Nicole smiles, “But you will  _ definitely _ need to help me out with it.”

“You have my word.”

“I’ll see you tomorrow, bright and early,” Nicole says as she continues down the street, walking backwards to maintain the mostly unbroken eye contact. “Have a good one, Waverly Earp.” She turned away to continue on her walk home knowing she had made Waverly blush a little and that was just the victory she needed for the day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I might be updating this pretty frequently at first but it'll start to slow down once I find a new job, I'll keep y'all posted on that. If you want to reach out to me elsewhere for whatever reason, my twitter is @skylawrites


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Waverly's POV chapter! Thought we should get to see a little more of what's going on with her

Walking into Shorty’s is always a trip for Waverly. She never knows quite what to expect. Most of the time, she just finds Gus behind the bar with maybe Wynonna sitting on the other side or playing pool. The rest of the time, it’s a gamble (sometimes quite literally with their poker nights). It’s not like it’s ever terrible but she would prefer not to walk in on Wynonna picking a fight with a man three times her size. Well, she’d prefer not to have Wynonna pick fights with men three times her size period but Waverly knows that it’s more likely she wins the lottery than Wynonna becoming less pugnacious. Today, however, she walks into an almost deserted Shorty’s. She could hear Gus downstairs getting something but Wynonna wasn’t anywhere to be seen. Just as she notices that, Wynonna comes bursting through the doors with the same aire of chaos she always has.

“Well lookee you,” Wynonna says fairly loudly while looking at Waverly. There’s a spark in her eye that Waverly knows means trouble or teasing and she’s not feeling either after the day she’s had. “You’re blushin’. Making out with Champ in the truck again?”

“Wynonna–”

“I’m only teasing, baby girl. Just don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”

“ _Wynonna–_ ”

“Good point. There’s not much I wouldn’t do. How’d cheerleading tryouts go?”

“Went pretty good. Didn’t really worry too much though. I was a part of the varsity team last year and I was a sophomore. Junior Waverly has absolutely nothing to worry about,” she replies cheerfully. She hates when Wynonna brings up the time she was caught kissing Champ in his truck and Wynonna loves to bring it up so she’s just glad to have a change of subject.

“Well, hey. You have definitely got this,” Wynonna says smiling over at her. “Also, it’s fuckin’ weird when you talk in third person.”

“Waverly knows that,” Waverly replies, beaming at her. Wynonna just rolls her eyes and grabs a stool at the bar. “Wellllll, I’m going to go upstairs to do some homework.”

“Woah-ho-ho, baby girl, it’s your first day of school! You already have classwork?” Wynonna says, looking half bewildered and half angry.

“No!” Waverly replies quickly. “I have some music to look over for marching band and I need to memorize the drills before I get out there tomorrow.”

“Waves, I know I have told you this before but you are going to stretch too thin pretty quickly. You’re in cheerleading, marching band, _and_ taking a few senior classes all at the same time,” Wynonna says cautiously. Waverly knows that her sister is just looking out for her but the lack of confidence she has in Waverly’s ability to keep up irritates her a bit.

“And I know that I have told you **this** before but I can handle it and handle myself. I am going to graduate this year if it kills me,” Waverly says with some fire. She then sees the worry in Wynonna’s eyes that she had missed before. “But it won’t. It won’t kill me because I have this under control and I have a great support system back home for me,” she says, walking over to place her hands on Wynonna’s shoulders. “I really do need to go upstairs to do some work. I love you, though.”

“I love you too,” Wynonna says. “Just… just be smart about things. Well, you’re already too smart for me to handle but you know what I mean.” Waverly smiles at her knowing that Wynonna is definitely going to get uncomfortable by this amount of verbal caring. “Ugh. Go! Go do your work, Waves. Before I go tellin’ Aunt Gus that you and Champ were neckin’.” Waverly rolls her eyes and drops her hands off of Wynonna’s shoulders, leaving to go upstairs.

The next day, Waverly dreads going to school for the first time in years. Seeing Champ is literally the last thing she wants to do after their little blowout. She knows that he will give her those puppy-dog eyes that make her melt. She knows that he will say some half-assed apology for something he doesn’t even understand. She knows she will forgive him and go back to how it was before. She knows that’s not what she wants to do. Not yet at least. Speaking to Champ isn’t something she can run from forever but it’s also not on the forefront of her agenda. It can wait and so can he. All Waverly wants to do that morning was check the list to see who was cut from the cheer tryouts and who was cut from the football tryouts. She also was slightly looking forward to calculus which she thinks she should get an award for. Who in their right mind has ever looked forward to calculus before? Well, other than a girl who’s excited to see her new friend again.

It’s weird to Waverly how quickly she took to Nicole. She’s used to getting along with almost everyone but she wasn’t used to the way the other girl was so charming. _She’s your friend, Waverly,_ she told herself, _Your friend who just happens to be an amazingly confident, pretty football player with mesmerizing red hair in an adorable french braid._ Those thoughts caught her as off guard as seeing the subject of them walking right at her with a genuine smile.

“Hey Waverly! Look at the lists yet? I’m stupidly nervous to see what my fate is,” Nicole says with a laugh as she approaches Waverly who had found herself standing at the wall where the lists hang.

“Hey,” Waverly smiles. “Haven’t looked at them yet. Little nervous myself.”

“I bet you have no reason to be. From what I saw you’re incredible,” Nicole says. Waverly feels herself blushing. Nicole watched the tryouts? Nicole quickly turns away to look at the wall as if embarrassed that she complimented Waverly in the first place and Waverly lets out a breath she didn’t know she was holding. After a beat, Waverly turns to face the wall as well.

As both of them read over the respective lists, Waverly glances over to the football list. Having read Nicole and Champ’s numbers off their shirts the previous night, she knew exactly which ones she was looking for — eight and six, Nicole and Champ. Not coming as a surprise at all to Waverly, number six was at the very top of the list. Number eight, however, took a moment of searching to find but it was definitely found and definitely in there.

“Hey, congrats!” Waverly says to her, beaming. “You made the cuts! Now you’re _guaranteed_ a spot on a team!!”

“Haha, thanks Waverly. Now I just have to haul ass on the field today to make sure I secure the starting QB for varsity…” Nicole says while glancing at the cheer list. Waverly’s eyes widen. How did she not know that her boyfriend and her new friend were both going for the same spot?? But how was she supposed to know? She dreads to see what that final list says. What if Nicole gets starting QB? What if _Champ_ does? Why did the second option seem so much worse? “Hey!” Nicole says, breaking her daze. “You got captain of the varsity?? Waverly that’s fantastic! Was there not a second tryout?”

“Oh,” Waverly says, coming back into the moment. “OH! I did??”

“Did you not look?”

“I mean, I glanced and found my name but didn’t look further than that!”

“Waverly! You are the captain! That’s so fantastic!” Nicole says, quickly pulling her into a hug that Waverly does not expect. Waverly freezes for a moment at feeling Nicole pressed up against her. _It’s a hug, Waverly_ , she tells herself. Before the hug is over, Waverly wraps her arms around Nicole as tightly as she is being held herself and lets out a little squeal.

“I did it! I didn’t really worry about making the team but me? As captain? I’m a junior! That doesn’t happen often,” Waverly says as they let go of each other. Nicole is happily smiling down at her but then falters.

“You’re a junior?”

“Yeah? Oh! I take a bunch of senior courses and am dating a senior so I totally see why you would’ve assumed I was one too,” Waverly rambles off. She probably should’ve clarified that in the beginning but it happens. Waverly looks for any sign of, well, anything on Nicole’s face but just finds a sweet smile.

“So you’re nice, pretty, **and** smart?” Nicole asks with a chuckle which causes Waverly to blush yet again. Waverly tries to suppress a smile but she knows her eyes will be getting the better of her. “Is there anything else you do?”

“Well… I’m in the marching band. 1st flute part,” Waverly says and then starts laugh. “I’m like a shark. I can’t stop moving.”

“Well, hey. That’s not a terrible way to be,” Nicole says with a smile. “Just don’t stretch yourself too thin.” Nicole and Waverly share a smile and Waverly starts to feel like it’s hard for her to breathe. Almost like something is sitting on her chest. It’s not a bad feeling. It feels like a good feeling but it’s an unknown one. Waverly opens up her mouth to say something about getting to class or some other lame excuse to break the eye contact but is interrupted by the one person she wants to see the least — Champ Hardy.

“Waves! Baby, let’s talk,” he immediately says as he’s approaching. Waverly is turning to look at him when, out of the corner of her eye, she see Nicole roll her eyes hard and sigh. She decides she’ll get back to that later. “Babe, can I talk to you? I just want to say I’m sorry.”

“Champ, please. Not right now. We can talk after school. I have class,” she says, purposely looking anywhere but his face knowing the puppy dog eyes will get her. “And so do you. Go to English, Champ and I promise we can talk later.”

“Babe, please. It won’t be for long. I can’t stand you being mad at me like this. I just want to talk. That’s it.”

“What else would you want? I said we can talk later. We’re going to be late for first period,” Waverly says coldly. She pushes past him and feels Nicole follow quickly behind.

“See you at lunch?” Champ calls behind her weakly.

The rest of the day goes by a lot faster than Waverly wants it to. At lunch, she does find her favorite redhead sitting at a mostly empty table and decides to sit with her while actively ignoring Champ’s eager waving. Nicole looks up and smiles at her like there’s nothing else in the world other than them and it makes Waverly feel tiny but incredible at the same time.

“Hey! Thought you would want to sit with your boy,” Nicole says as Waverly makes it to their table.

“Oh, Champ? No, he can wait until after school.”

“Cool! Well, welcome to the table!”

“Or as we like to to call it the NKOTT,” a darker skinned guy Waverly doesn’t think she’s seen before says with a dorky grin. “New Kids On The Table.” Nicole rolls her eyes at that but he seems to find it hilarious.

“This,” Nicole gestures over to him, “is Jeremy. He’s new here too, if you couldn’t tell.”

“Oh, come on. NKOTB! New Kids on the Block! NKOTT. It’s funny,” Jeremy says looking directly at Waverly. She does find it kind of funny and quietly laughs.

“I’m Waverly,” she says, extending a hand to greet him with. He gladly takes it for what Waverly would deem the world’s fastest handshake.

“Cool. Wait are you in AP Latin? 5th period?”

“Yes! I sit right up front! I didn’t realize you were in that class with me.”

“Yeah, probably because I sit on the other end of the room. But hey! If you need any help on Latin homework, I’m your guy,” he says with a dorky grin.

“Jeeze, Waverly. How many AP or senior classes are you in?” Nicole says in utter disbelief.

“Well, technically I’m only a junior because I have two junior classes left to finish. So five senior or AP classes.”

“Shit, Waves. Are you planning on just graduating this year with the rest of us?” Nicole says. Waverly stares at her for just a beat because nobody but her family and her boyfriend calls her Waves and she didn’t know how much she would like it when Nicole called her it.

“Yep. That’s the plan. I took a few summer classes to do this and just want to see how fast I can get out of Purgatory,” Waverly says with a smile.

“Y’know. I thought I would be the biggest nerd here but it’s really nice to meet you, Waverly,” Jeremy says laughing which makes Nicole laugh as well.

“Jeremy, I still will always think of you as the nerdiest of us all,” Nicole says, flicking some food off her tray at him which makes Waverly join in on the laughter. This is the lightest Waverly has felt in months, if not years, and she loves it. _If only this would last forever_.

“Waverly!” Chrissy, Waverly’s best friend, says as she approaches the three of them. “What are you doing over here? Ditching the old table?”

“Hey Chrissy!” Waverly says, getting up to greet her with a hug. “Yeah! Thought some change was a little necessary. Y’know, new year, new me, and all that.” Chrissy smiles at her and Waverly knows it’s because she has now assumed Champ and her broke up. Waverly hates how much Chrissy despises Champ but she knows Chrissy will support her to the moon and back with whatever she does.

“That’s awesome,” Chrissy says. She then looks down at the two people still sat at the table. “D’you guys mind if I crash with y’all?”

“Hey, no, of course not,” Nicole replies quickly. “Anyone and everyone is welcome to sit here.”

When Chrissy sits down, Waverly quickly goes through the introductions of everyone and they all get into a nice conversation flow. Waverly loves how her oldest friend and her newest friends seem to get on so well so quickly. She finds herself thinking about how great life would be if it were only the three of them Waverly had to hang out with. She is snapped out of her day dream with Chrissy saying something a little too loud.

“Wait a second. Haught?”

“Yes?” Nicole says, visibly confused.

“As in the girl who is trying to get the same exact position Waverly’s boyfriend has on the football team?”

“Uh, yeah I guess. How-how did you know that though?”

“It’s a small town. News runs very fast here,” Chrissy says with a shrug.

“Also!” Waverly butts in, “Her dad’s the coach. News runs fast but _not_ that specific.”

“Coach Nedley is your dad?” Nicole says, starting to look a bit worried.

“Yeah but it’s not like he talks to me much about sports. Just said something about ‘Haught’ and ‘girl’ and ‘gives Champ a run for his money.’” Nicole chokes on that last one.

“He said that?” She asks hesitantly. Waverly tries to hide a smile. She **definitely** should be rooting Champ on on this one because he _is_ her boyfriend.

“Well, yeah. That and some other stuff but I’m pretty sure I’ve already said too much,” Chrissy says, taking a bite of her food, obviously completely oblivious to the way Waverly stares at Nicole and the dumb look on Nicole’s face.

Lunch ends and it just brings Waverly closer to the moment she has been dreading all day — talking with Champ. _He is going to try and right this,_ she tells herself. _He’ll take the whole blame even though he doesn’t know what any of it is about. He will then try to turn it into us ending up making out. This is always how it goes and I don’t know why I can expect any different._ She definitely does not want to make out with Champ right now. She barely wants to see him. Still, after school, Waverly makes her way over to their usual meeting space behind the gym and waits patiently for him. Ten minutes roll by and Waverly’s patience is wearing. 15 minutes come and go and Waverly is out of patience. She shoots him a text after hoping she wouldn’t have to.

 **Waverly (** 2:30pm **)**

hey where are you??

 **Champ** (2:32pm)

wdym?

 **Waverly** (2:32pm)

wdym?? U begged all day to talk to me and now it’s “wdym” when we were supposed to meet?

 **Champ** (2:35pm)

shit waves im so sorry. ill be there in 10. I was hanging with the guys b4 tryouts

 **Waverly** (2:37pm)

dont bother. I’m headed to band rehearsal. Hang with the guys for the rest of the day.

 **Champ** (2:37pm)

Babe im on my way over already. just wait for a few seconds

 **Waverly** (2:38pm)

Ive already waited 15 min Champ. We can talk when you’re mature enough to remember a promise that you made the same day.

 **Champ** (2:38pm)

Babe, pls im honestly so sorry. I can give you a ride after my tryout and your practice. pls lets talk then

 **Waverly** (3:00pm)

fine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys so much for the comments/kudos. I really appreciate it all so much! Next chapter will also be a Waverly POV chapter :) That one will definitely include more Nicole than this one did.
> 
> Reach out to me on twitter if any of ya want to @skylawrites


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So to explain the whole cheerleading and marching band thing: at my high school, once upon a time, we had a baritone sax player who was also on the football team. He'd just go do the halftime show with us in his full football uniform. So, Waverly would go out in her cheer uniform to do the show :)

Despite the anger Waverly feels towards her boyfriend at this moment, she has a fantastic time at band rehearsal. Their show this year is Wicked and it’s super exciting to play those tunes on the field. Obviously showtunes aren’t for everyone but a marching band doing Wicked is going to be amazing and Waverly can’t wait for the crowd to see it. Playing Dancing Through Life while marching feels like a dream especially once it transitions into Defying Gravity. Even through this amazing rehearsal, she has a nagging voice in the back of her head telling her everything she doesn’t want to face but needs to.  _ You have to break up with Champ. _

After rehearsal, when Waverly steps off the field, she sees Nicole Haught casually running over to her with a grin. Somehow, that grin alone turns the pit in Waverly’s stomach into butterflies. It confuses her somewhat to why she has those butterflies but, instead of shaking off the feeling, she embraces it. Nicole’s sweaty from a long and hard tryout but Waverly is probably almost as sweaty after working her ass off at marching band.

“Hey,” Nicole breathes out when she reaches her, trying to catch her breath.

“Hey, how’d tryouts go?” Waverly asks while hoping the answer is that she whooped Champ’s ass.

“They went okay. I don’t know whether they were here or there but I am definitely exhausted. You guys sounded awesome though! We could hear you from the field.”

“Well thank you very much,” Waverly laughed. “I’m actually very excited for this show.”   


“So how do you do marching band with cheerleading? I meant to ask you earlier.”

“I just go out there in my cheer uniform at halftime. We don’t do anything at halftime anyways so it wasn’t much of an issue.”   
“What about practice and rehearsals?” Nicole asks, genuinely curious. She actually wants to know these things and not enough people want to hear what Waverly has to say a lot of the time. “They don’t overlap?”

“Nope,” Waverly replies, popping the ‘p’. “Well, not enough to make it an issue. The closer we get to competitions for cheer, the harder it is but it’s not unmanageable.”

“That’s fantastic! You’re incredible,” Nicole says with a goofy grin plastered on her face. Waverly hesitantly returns the smile.

“Uh, thanks,” she replies, blushing much harder than she’d care to admit. “I wish I could chat longer but I have to go. Champ is waiting in the truck.” She notices Nicole’s smile falter a little at Champ’s name but she keeps the same glint in her eyes while staring at Waverly.

“Well, don’t want to keep him waiting,” Nicole says. “See you tomorrow?”   


“You betchya!” Waverly inwardly cringes at her own words and turns around to walk to the car but she can still here Nicole chuckle as she walks away.  _ Why is it so difficult to talk to her like a normal human when it’s normally so easy? _

Not giving herself any time to get hung up on that thought, Waverly books it to the car she knows (hopes) Champ is waiting in. She honest to God doesn’t know what she is going to say to him, how she’s going to say it, or when she’s going to say it but she will figure it out when the time comes. All Waverly knows is that she has to speak to him and it’s not going to be a pleasant conversation for either one of them. 

As Waverly approaches the truck, she’s almost surprised to see him sitting in the driver’s seat already. There’s a first for everything and apparently that includes Champ showing up before Waverly to something. Almost to right that small change, Waverly will always be the one to break up with someone instead of the other way around. She takes a deep breath and seals her fate by marching towards the passenger side door.

“Hey babe,” Champ says immediately when Waverly gets into the truck. He leans over to kiss her but, at the last moment, Waverly moves her head so he just gets her cheek.

“Champ,” she starts slowly. “This sucks.”   


“What sucks?” Champ asks, looking at Waverly like a kicked puppy.

“This!” Waverly says motioning around her and him with both of her hands. “This has sucked for me for a while.”   


“What do you mean? I thought we were doing great until yesterday…”

“ _You_ thought we were doing great. _I_ felt ignored and like you didn’t give a shit what I thought.”

“Waves —”

“Champ, no. We’re done. I’ll see you around inevitably but this,” she makes the motion again, “is not a thing anymore.” With that final word, Waverly opens the car door and starts to leave. Before she can get out, Champ grabs her arm.

“Babe, can we just talk about this?” He asks her while giving her the biggest puppy dog eyes he can muster.

“Let go of my arm, Champ. There’s no talking,” Waverly says, ripping her arm free of his grasp. She jumps down from the truck and slams the car door. She hears the car’s engine sputter to life as she walks away and turns her head to see it speeding off towards town. It’s weird but Waverly doesn’t even feel broken up by this at all. Break ups are supposed to suck but this one felt… liberating. Like it came too late even if she just realized how bad their relationship was within the past day or two. She’s just glad it’s over even if that means she doesn’t have a ride home but that is when the great combination of cell phones and big sisters come in handy.

**Angel Pants** (4:00pm)

Hey can you pick me up from rehearsal?

**Bacon Donut** (4:03pm)

What happened to Champ’s truck? Did he total it again

**Angel Pants** (4:03pm)

We broke up. Pls just come get me

**Bacon Donut** (4:04pm)

Shit yea b there in a moment

Waverly puts her phone back in her pocket and silently dreads Wynonna’s impending question bombardment. Even if she isn’t too upset about breaking up with Champ, she still doesn’t want to relive it right away. She sits down on the curb outside of the gym while thinking up possible questions Wynonna will have. Lost in thought, she doesn’t hear someone come up from behind her or notice them sitting down until their voice breaks her concentration.

“Hey? You good?” 

“Oh,” Waverly says looking over to see Nicole. “Yeah. I’m okay.”

“You sure?” Nicole asks. “Thought Champ was waiting for you in his truck.”

“He was,” she sighs. Nicole’s eyebrows furrow. 

“Did he leave without you?” Waverly laughs at her question because it almost feels ridiculous how plausible that is. How in the hell did she actually go out with and for so long.

“No,” Waverly says still laughing lightly. “We actually broke up…”

“Oh!” Nicole says a little too quickly and then clears her throat. “Oh. I’m so sorry.”

“Don’t be. I broke up with  _ him. _ It was needed.”

“Oh, well, congrats?” Nicole says. Waverly gives her a half amused and half puzzled face. “Sorry, I never know what to say when people break up with other people. I am one hell of a listener slash comforter when people are broken up with, though.”

“Well I’ll keep that in mind if the time ever comes where I need that,” Waverly says with a soft smile. “Thanks anyways. Really.”

“Yeah,” Nicole replies, returning the smile. “No problem. I know we still barely know each other but I’m here if you ever want to talk about it. Or anything really. I should get going though.”   


“I’ll see you tomorrow then!” Waverly looks at the Jeep pulling up to the side of the gym. “My sister is pulling in now anyways.”

“Okay, yeah. See you tomorrow,” Nicole says, getting up to leave at the same time Waverly gets up to get to the car. “Oh wait. Hold on.” Waverly looks at her, confused, as Nicole digs through her gym bag for something. She pulls out a piece of paper and hands it to Waverly. “My number. Y’know, if you ever need help on homework or something.”

“Or something,” Waverly says with that blush (that she now hates) creeping back onto her face. It kinda makes her feel better when she sees Nicole’s face start to match her hair color. “Thanks.” Nicole just flashes a smile at her and turns around to walk away and Waverly really tries not to watch as she does so.

“Hey!” Wynonna yells out the Jeep making Waverly’s head whip around to her. “Come on, get in.” She quickly gets into the car and Wynonna stares at her in a way she hates — with concern.

“Thank you,” Waverly mutters as she buckles in.

“Of course, baby girl. Do you, uh, want to talk about it?”

“Not particularly,” Waverly says with an admittedly nervous sounding laugh.

“No pressure whatsoever,” Wynonna says, looking over at her as she pulls out of the school.

“Wyn?” Waverly says, making eye contact.

“Yeah?”   
“Can you watch the road instead of me?”

“Oh,” Wynonna says as she looks forward. “Yeah, that’d probably be the better choice.” There’s a moment of silence that Waverly relishes but Wynonna obviously has to break almost immediately. “I just want to know if he broke up with you or other way around because if he did, I’ll have to go beat him up.”   


“ _ Wynonna _ , you cannot beat up Champ over breaking up with me. He didn’t though. I broke up with him.”

“Thank GOD,” Wynonna says with a heavy sigh. “I knew you would come to your senses soon enough. Can’t believe it took you a year and a half though.”   


“He was sweet…”

“He was an asshole with a nice body.”

“Okay, yeah,” Waverly gives in. “You’re right. Honestly? I don’t know if I ever  _ really _ liked him.”

“We’ve all been there,” Wynonna says, glancing over at her sister with a smug look. “We’ve all fallen for a pretty face and hot bod without actually liking the person. It’s life.”

“I did  _ not _ fall for his ‘bod,’” Waverly groans.

“Hey, you don’t have to explain yourself to me. I get it,” Wynonna smirks at her causing Waverly to lean down to put her head down into her her hands. “I am the very last person that could lecture you on that.”   


“ _ Please _ let’s stop talking about this,” Waverly says into her hands. Wynonna puts a hand on her back while laughing. The rest of the drive to the homestead goes by pretty quietly. They have some light conversation about band and cheer and whatever Wynonna gets up to on her motorcycle but they don’t talk about Champ again. Even though she’s a pain in the ass, Wynonna really respects Waverly’s boundaries most of the time because she knows they’ll talk about it when she’s ready.

After breaking up with Champ, Waverly goes through the next few days like she’s walking on air. Things are all of a sudden much easier to handle. She knows football tryouts have extended a little to try to get a handle on specific positions a bit more but she honestly doesn’t care as much as she used to. Obviously, she hopes more than ever that Nicole beats Champ out and, this time, she doesn’t worry about the pieces she’ll have to pick up if she does. She loves that she won’t have to deal with his whining if that day comes. Nicole and her friendship seems to have grown stronger since the break up as well. It’s an added bonus that Waverly loves. She may be popular but she really only has one friend (Chrissy). As much as she absolutely loves Chrissy, she definitely enjoys having Nicole as well. She even has become pretty good friends with Jeremy too since she has made herself and Chrissy permanent fixtures at the NKOTT lunch group. This is the first solid group of friends Waverly has had since middle school and she’s not looking to ever give it up. 

Champ has definitely been beating himself up about the break up but, quite honestly, Waverly doesn’t give a shit. She is done giving him any of her energy. They did have to see each other the day after she broke up with him but she initiated it and it was just to get their stuff back to each other. He’s been moping around the school ever since and, while it’s annoying to see, Waverly decides to never give him a second glance. With her group of friends, that becomes the easiest thing she’s ever decided. While they all gave her whatever sympathy she needed after the breakup, they rallied to lift her up as well — Nicole and Chrissy especially. Apparently everyone wanted her to break up with Champ even if they barely knew her. Huh.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys so much for all the kudos and comments! I really didn't expect this much of a response haha.  
> So I'm going to actually get on a schedule for this even though it's fun to put out a chapter every day/every other day. Saturdays will now have updates! It also means that those updates will be longer and more involved than these ones  
> If you want to reach out to me, I made a new twitter specifically for Ao3 stuff @skylawrites


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Team list has been posted and the first game is played! Along with a little Wayhaught of course

Nicole has come to a few conclusions in the past few days: 1) Football tryouts in Purgatory are a bitch, 2) Champ is an even bigger dick after a break up than he was before, and 3) Waverly is one of the coolest friends she’s ever had. These three conclusions actually hit her back to back to back the day after Waverly and Champ called a quits. All in the span of an hour, football made someone (Jeremy) pass out, Champ threw the ball directly into the back of Nicole’s head during a drill, and then Waverly screamed him out for a solid minute. Nicole could’ve gotten whiplash from all the events happening so fast without any warnings. Following that day, Nicole couldn’t feel lighter. She has only lived in Purgatory for a week and she already has a pretty good group of friends purely out of chance. She has never felt more ready to take on a school year. 

Nicole is walking in on a Friday morning when she feels her phone buzz in her pocket.

**Unknown Number** (6:40am)

Hey did you do the homework last night??

**Unknown Number** (6:40am)

It’s Waverly btw haha

Nicole smiles down at her phone while reading the messages, not expecting Waverly to have texted her about homework this early in the school year.

**Nicole** (6:43am)

Yea, meet me by the gym. Gotta check to see the teams for football

**Waverly** (6:44am)

Okay!!! Wishin you luck!!

**Waverly** (6:44am)

U dont need it though ;P

Waverly goddamn Earp just sent her a winking tongue face and Nicole is all sorts confused. Who sends emoticons like that anymore? She shrugs it off and makes her way straight to the gym to see where her fate lies for the football team. It’s not common for a coach to accept a girl in tryouts so easily and it’s even more uncommon for said girl to have a fair shot at making the team. Nedley had no questions and no hesitations allowing Nicole to tryout and, so far, has treated her just like one of the guys. It’s still nerve wracking to be the only girl on the team (or in Purgatory High’s football history) but she’s more than ready to take on the challenge. Whether she’s the back up QB for varsity, QB for the JV team, or literally any other position, she’ll be slightly disappointed but take it head on no holds barred. Well, just as long as Champ stays mostly out of her way. She’ll deal with that as she can with a little more reservation so as not to end up in an actual fist fight.

As she makes her way to the locker room hallway to see the lists, she sees Waverly already over at them and studying them intensely. A pit falls in Nicole’s stomach at Waverly’s neutral expression while reading. It could literally mean anything but her mind immediately goes to Champ beat her out for the starting QB position. Nicole takes a few steps closer before Waverly turns, noticing her presence. 

“Hey,” Waverly says with a smile that looks like it’s being held back. “I couldn’t help myself so I looked first.” 

“Didn’t expect you to hold yourself back,” Nicole says as she goes to stand beside her. “Have you found my name?”

“Yup!” Waverly says. “Not too hard to find, actually.” Nicole’s mind is racing with what that could mean but instead of dwelling on it any longer, she looks at the lists. She quickly finds the section for the offense on the varsity page and scans it a few times over. Knowing she read it correctly the first time but having to read it a few more times to make sure, Nicole is dumbstruck.

“Well, that happened,” Nicole lets out causing Waverly to laugh hysterically.

“Nicole, you made history,” she says once she catches her breathe. “You’re the first woman to be a starting quarterback in Purgatory High history.” Nicole’s face breaks into a huge genuine smile for the first time that morning.

“Holy shit, I did that,” Nicole breathes out. 

“You did that!” Waverly practically squeals throwing her arms around Nicole’s neck. Nicole stands there dumbly for a second, still processing everything, but quickly wraps her arms around Waverly’s waist as tight as Waverly holds her. Waverly feels warm and like everything Nicole needs in that moment. The hug is over way quicker than she wanted it to be but seeing Waverly’s bright smile gives her the same warm feeling. Nicole hates it. She really did not want to fall for a straight girl at her new school but it seems like she doesn’t have a choice at this point. Breaking them from their little moment, Champ starts walking down the hallway.

“Hey, Waverly? You still need that homework?” Nicole says, grabbing her hand and trying to direct her the other way. Waverly looks confused for a moment but then turns to look behind her and sees Champ. She holds her ground for a second and then turns back to Nicole with her small smile.

“Yeah. Totally spaced on doing it last night. So not like me but Wynonna was having some sort of drama at Shorty’s,” Waverly says, still holding onto Nicole’s hand.

“It’s no issue,” Nicole says with a straight face. She begins walking down the hall with Waverly in tow. The thing that sucks about the locker room hallway is that there is only one way in and, thus, one way out. Passing by Champ Hardy hand-in-hand with his ex-girlfriend after beating him out for the position he wanted in football definitely was not what Nicole thought she was going to be doing this morning but it’s the way things are going. She tries her best not to make eye contact with him but he, for some reason, decides to stand right in front of her. 

“Excuse me,” Nicole says as she looks up to make direct eye contact. “Can we get by? Need to do stuff before first period.”

“Do stuff? What does ‘stuff’ entail, Haught?” Champ says with an edge to his voice. 

“Excuse me?” Nicole asks honestly taken aback by his implication.

“You heard me,” Champ says back. Nicole feels Waverly tighten her grip on her hand and before Waverly can say anything to him, she makes a decision she knows she’ll regret at practice Monday and pushes past him somewhat harshly. She feels Waverly pick up her pace to walk beside her and let go of her hand. 

“What the fuck is his issue?” Nicole says as they round a corner to some tables in the courtyard area.

“I don’t know and I literally hate how he’s like this,” Waverly says looking straight ahead. Nicole knows that neither one of them wants to continue talking about Champ so she just pulls out her homework to quickly help Waverly with it. Waverly barely needs help with it but it’s definitely helpful to have Nicole’s answers right in front of her while she does it. The two of them are almost late to calculus but end up making it right as the bell rings. Nicole has had an emotional whirlwind of a morning and it’s definitely making her lose a lot of focus in her classes. She goes through the motions of the day in a daze. There are so many things that she has to think about but the one thing that sticks in her head the entire time is  _ you are the QB and Champ is not. You beat him fair and square. _

At the end of the day, Nicole is just glad to get home. She knows that Monday is not going to be the easy ride she secretly hopes it will be so she’s glad to have the weekend to herself. She has anywhere between two and two and a half hours before her mom gets home and three hours before her dad gets home so that means she gets the house to herself. Deciding to put homework off until the weekend, Nicole takes out her phone planning on scrolling mindlessly through her apps. Not even a minute into her Facebook newsfeed, she gets a notification.

**Waverly** (2:40pm)

hey you busy?

Nicole doesn’t want to get excited by just seeing Waverly’s name pop up on her screen but just because she doesn’t want to doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen.

**Nicole** (2:41pm)

No? Why whats up

**Waverly** (2:42pm)

Wonderin if you wanted to do anything. I want to get away from the homestead haha

Nicole has to remind herself that this does not mean Waverly likes her in any way other than a friend. She has to remind herself to calm down and remember that it is an amazing thing to have a close friend so quickly into joining a new school.

**Nicole** (2:42pm)

Yeah totally. Want to come to my place? We can watch some tv or somthing

*something

**Waverly** (2:45pm) 

Sounds great! Just lemme know where and I’ll be over in a jiffy :)

Nicole sends her address over to Waverly and it all of a sudden hits her that Waverly is going to be at her house within the next hour. Jumping off the couch, Nicole cleans up the living room as best as she can and sprints up to her room to actually make her bed for the first time in probably years. She knows they’re probably just going to laze around the living room but better safe than sorry if they wanted to hang upstairs. The great thing about Nicole’s parents is that they don’t care if Nicole has anyone over while they’re out (or home for that matter) as long as they don’t make a mess. She knows they’ll probably be happy to see someone over since they didn’t think she would make friends within the first month of school (and told her that to). 

As soon as she’s done placing the pillows back on her bed, the doorbell rings. Nicole rushes downstairs but then takes a second before answering the door to seem like she didn’t just sprint to it. Even though she knows Waverly is just her friend, she still wants to seem cool (if possible). Taking a deep breath in, Nicole opens the door, smiling at Waverly. Waverly’s face breaks into a smile upon making eye contact.. 

“Hey! Thank you so much for having me over,” Waverly quickly blurts out causing Nicole to laugh a little.

“Hey, no problem. Come on in,” Nicole says while moving to the side to give her a way in. “So what was happening at the homestead that made you want to get away?”

“Oh, you know. The usual. Wynonna and Aunt Gus got into a fight and I  _ think _ Wynonna left on her motorcycle and I just did not want to be around when Gus found that out.”

“Jeeze. That’s the usual?”

“Yup,” Waverly says as she slips off her shoes. “I doubt Wynonna will be gone for long. She never is. Just a big ado everytime.” Waverly lets out a small laugh that’s bordering on nervous.

“Well you’re always welcome over here, Waves,” Nicole says. Waverly tilts her head a little and gives her a strange look. “What?”

“Why are you so nice to me?” Waverly asks bluntly. Nicole is taken by surprise by this question. It’s not really one someone asks or gets asked often.

“You’re my friend?”

“I know that but you’ve been like this since like the moment I met you,” Waverly says. Nicole closes the front door behind her and leads them both wandering into the kitchen.

“I mean, yeah. I don’t know. I guess because you’re really easy to like,” Nicole says with a laugh. “Why wouldn’t I be nice to you?”

“I don’t know. It’s not weird or anything,” Waverly says while taking a step forward towards her. Nicole’s chest all of a sudden feels like something is sitting on it. She can’t ignore the fact that Waverly’s eyes dart to her lips but return right back to making eye contact within a fraction of a second and the tightening in her chest somehow gets worse. “Did you want to watch a movie or something?” 

“Yeah,” Nicole says in a voice that’s a little too deep to be her own. She clears her throat to get back to normal. “Yeah. I was thinking maybe like a throwback? How’s Princess Diaries sound?”

“Sounds fantastic!” Waverly says in her normal, upbeat way.  “God I haven’t seen that movie in ages. It’s Anne Hathaway’s first movie, right?”   
“Yeah, I think so,” Nicole says, finally regaining her composure. “The living room is around the corner. I’m going to make some popcorn. Do you want anything to drink?”

“Sure, water?”

“Coming right up,” Nicole says, heading to the fridge. Waverly goes to the couch and Nicole can hear her clicking through the already open Netflix. Nicole gets everything together in the kitchen as quick as possible and takes her seat next to Waverly on the couch, pressing play on the movie. The two of them make comments here and there during the movie and laugh together. Nicole has never felt more at ease with Waverly. There’s no weird filter she put on around Champ and there’s nothing to worry about except how Mia Thermopolis will survive as a princess in a California high school. Subconsciously, Nicole has moved over a few inches throughout the movie so that her and Waverly’s legs are touching. Realizing this, Nicole goes rigid, thinking that she may have crossed some unknown line. Instead of pulling away quickly, she looks over at Waverly. Waverly, of course, is still staring at the screen. What Nicole didn’t expect to see is Waverly reaching over for the popcorn and coming back to her seat somehow closer to Nicole than before. Was that on purpose? If it was, why? Instead of being able to dwell on this like she wanted to, the door swings open and Nicole’s mom walks in causing Waverly to move away from Nicole as if lightning went through her.

“Hi, Mom,” Nicole says too quickly and too high pitch. She silently chastises herself but her mom doesn’t seem to notice. 

“Hi, sweetheart. How was your day?” Nicole’s mom responds. Instead of looking at Nicole, however, her eyes are pretty much glued to Waverly. 

“Uh, good. This is Waverly by the way. Sorry I didn’t text you to let you know she was coming over…” Nicole says while trying to capture her mother’s attention but she is still fixated on Waverly, this time smiling. Nicole  _ knows _ she’s about to say something embarrassing. She always does.

“Oh! Waverly! Nicole has told me so much about you,” her mom says and reaches over to shake Waverly’s hand. Waverly, of course, looks a little shocked but then takes her hand and turns to Nicole with a shit eating grin.

“It’s nice to meet you, Mrs. Haught. Your daughter is a wonderful calculus partner,” Waverly says and looks back at Nicole’s mom right before Nicole rolls her eyes harder than she has in a while. 

“I didn’t even think my daughter knew how to do calculus,” Nicole’s mother replies, dropping Waverly’s hand and looking at Nicole.

“ _ Mom, _ please —”

“Oh she’s doesn’t. Not yet at least,” Waverly says with a laugh. “I’m sorta doing a lot of it but she’s catching on.” Both Waverly and Nicole’s mom are laughing at this point which makes Nicole a mix of happy and annoyed. They’re laughing  _ at _ her but she’s glad they’re getting along so quickly.

“Guys, I am literally right here. In other news, I made the varsity team as quarterback for football,” Nicole says casually, trying to change the topic from her being incompetent in math to something she’s actually good at. Nicole’s mom’s face lights up.

“Nicole!! Why didn’t you start with that?! I’m so proud of you!” she says as she rushes over to give Nicole a hug. “How’d that douchebag with no social queues you were telling me about take it?” Nicole blushes at that description of Champ. She knows Waverly feels the exact same way about him but, like, hearing her mom actually saying it allowed and showing how often Nicole complained about him is still fairly embarrassing. She does see Waverly grin out of the corner of her eye, though.

“Uh, kinda didn’t stay around long enough to find out completely. He wasn’t my biggest fan to start with so I doubt this will go over very smoothly…” Nicole says, pulling back from her mother. “I mean, it won’t be any issue that I can’t handle. He’s a dick but it’s nothing I haven’t dealt with before.” 

“Well, just don’t get into a fight or anything,” her mother says with an iron grip on her shoulders. She lets go fairly quickly and starts walking upstairs but not before she calls over her shoulder, “When your father gets home, we’ll have to go out to celebrate! Waverly, you are one hundred percent invited.” 

The rest of the night for Nicole turns out very relaxed. Waverly took the offer and her, Nicole’s parents, and Nicole all went out for some dinner at a local diner. Waverly fit right in with her family and it made it very hard for Nicole to try and let go of her silly crush. Waverly was charming the hell out of her parents and, if her parents knew she was into girls, they would have totally guessed that the two of them were dating or at least would have teased Nicole for the obvious crush. They would have been wrong in this alternate reality but it doesn’t cover up the fact that, no matter how hard she tried not to, Nicole can’t help but to flirt with Waverly. And Waverly is surprisingly receptive to the flirtation. Dinner with her parents and Waverly is almost the best part of Nicole’s day (coming right under the reason for the celebratory meal). She couldn’t picture a better end to that day.

The days roll by with practices and school pretty quickly for Nicole. Things have all of a sudden become very busy but she wouldn’t have it any different. There are a few spats with Champ here and there but nothing that has been too bad. What she really had been focusing on for a solid week and a half after learning she was the new quarterback was the plans for their first game. Luckily, it was a home game so they can practice everything up until the moment they absolutely need to get into their game gear. Memorising drills isn’t hard for her but it’s still something she commits to full heartedly. Reading the drill sheets over and over and finding sequences that seem to work is part of the fun for Nicole. She loves being the one to call out a drill and see the offense execute it exactly how she wants (or at least close to what she was going for ). The guys were hesitant at first having Nicole as quarterback but she expected that and pushed past their hesitation until they trusted her more than they would have Champ. 

Heading to the game, Nicole thought she would be more nervous than she is but she has confidence in herself and her team to make it through this game with little issue. She knows the plays she needs to run and she knows that her guys will be able to execute them. She also knows that Waverly will be quite literally cheering her on from the sidelines. It’s easy to forget about the stress of winning the game when she focuses on the stress of not fucking up around Waverly. It gives her the fire under her ass she needs. Nicole, of course, also wants to make sure Champ knows exactly why she was chosen over him. The Purgatory Blue Devils haven’t won an opening game in 5 years and she is ready to break that streak. 

Winning the coin toss, the Blue Devils receive the ball. Not long into the first quarter, Nicole throws a long pass down the field to one of the guys she had run down and they score their first touchdown. Jeremy quickly turns their 6 points into 7 with the field goal. Nicole sees Waverly yell and applaud with the rest of the cheerleaders leading into one of their cheers. The team keeps their lead into the second quarter ending at halftime with the score at 21-14. Running off the field, Nicole looks over to the band and sees Waverly almost immediately. She sticks out easily in her cheer uniform while the rest of the band is in their marching uniform. Waverly looks over as if she can tell Nicole is looking towards her and flashes a smile, waving the flute in her hand. Nicole lifts a hand in a half wave as she runs towards the rest of the team. She can hear the loud opening of Wicked as she reaches the huddle and smiles. Nothing is better than hearing a good marching band as your football team is in the lead. Especially if there’s a cute girl in the band who happens to be one of your best friends.

The second half of the game gets a little harder for the team. The other team seems to have taken the halftime to really regroup and get back into the game. Nicole throws the ball down the field, trying to reach one of her players but ends up throwing it straight into the arms of one of the defense. That turnover helps the other team score and Nicole feels like an idiot. It doesn’t help when she hears a very loud and obnoxious “come on” from the bench. Champ looks more pissed than the coach but she can’t let that get to her. At the end of the third quarter, the Blue Devils are down 35-28. Needing two touchdowns in the next quarter to win isn’t impossible but it surely isn’t easy. High school football has 12 minute quarters instead of the 15 minute NFL quarters which makes it even more difficult to get the two touchdowns. Nicole is determined to make it happen anyhow. 

“Hey,” she hears someone call to her while she’s standing at the sidelines watching the defense. Champ is walking up to her and she naturally tenses up. “You better not fucking turnover the ball again.”

“It’s funny because I don’t remember doing that on purpose…” Nicole says, crossing her arms. She really does not want to talk to Champ right now but it seems like she doesn’t have a choice.

“Doesn’t matter, Haught. We’re down by only a touchdown and they can easily widen the gap. Don’t be the asshole that ruins the game by throwing it directly to them.”

“Thanks, Champ. I’ll keep your advice in mind when I’m out there,” Nicole says passively as she walks down the sideline a little. She wants to say something about how it’s her out there and not him but decides she doesn’t need a fight while standing on the sideline. Not giving her any chance to reconsider her decision on not fighting, the ball is turned over to them after 4 downs so she runs out there determined to close the score gap. 

After three downs and 10 yards to go, Nicole decides to throw a Hail Mary pass the 40 yards to the goal. She gets one of her guys to run the length as soon as the snap occurs and she takes a deep breath before sending the ball flying through the air. Falling a little short, the guy who went running catches it at 5 yard line and runs it in scoring the touchdown that closes the gap. The stands and sideline erupt in cheers. With only 4 minutes left in the game, Nedley tells Nicole to do the two-point conversion instead of the field goal to get the lead. It’s a risky move. If they don’t get the conversion, the Blue Devils will be down by one instead of tying the score. It’s a risk they’re willing to take though. The opposing team’s defense has definitely been slowing down this quarter so hopefully there will be a gap to get the extra points. If she doesn’t get this pass perfectly into the arms of a waiting team member, she knows she will be the one to have let the team down. Forget the defense who let the opposition score throughout the last quarter. It would be on Nicole.

“Let’s do this, guys!” Nedley shouts from the sidelines as they all get into their position. Nicole calls the play and the ball is snapped to her. Nicole sees the wide open gap her team has made and one of her guys running over to it. She steps back, getting ready to throw the ball, as she sees in the corner of her eye one of the defense come at her. She lets the ball go without a second more of aiming or preparation and immediately feels the weight of a much larger person knocking her down to the ground. As she hits the ground, the crowd is on their feet whooping and cheering. The pass was good. The Blue Devils secured the lead. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So much for schedule, amiright? Sorry for the delay guys. I had over estimated my capabilities and forgot that I was going to go on a camping trip. I will try to make it more regular again.
> 
> Reach out to me on Tumblr @sly-sky or on twitter @skylawrites


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Sorry for the late late update. Life hit me hard and fast

After winning her first game, Nicole feels on top of the world. You know, except for bruising what feels like every inch of her body. It’s so worth it though. After the knockdown and touchdown, the stands had erupted in cheers in a way Nicole had never experienced at her old school. It was deafening and then, as if no one ever shouted in the first place, the hush fell over the crowd when they had realized Nicole had still not gotten up from the sack. It was a dirty hit from the defenseman and it was obvious. She was a defenseless player and hitting her when she was throwing is strictly against the rules. The other team should have gotten a 15 yard penalty but they didn't. Not that it matters much in the end anyways. The Blue Devils still won. Still, however, Nicole cares about the rules and is annoyed they weren’t enforced fully.

Nicole doesn’t remember directly after the hit because of the pain and chaos of it all but she does vaguely remember someone taking off her helmet and then helped up to walk off the field. She remembers the crowd politely applauding her as she walked off but what she very distinctly remembers is a certain cheerleader sprinting across the sidelines all the while yelling her name. Waverly made it to Nicole before her parents even managed to get out of the fan section. She remembers Nedley telling Waverly to give her some space but Waverly pushed past him to get to her and took her face in her hands to look her over properly.

“Are you okay?” Waverly asked Nicole. “How’s your head?” Nicole knew that this is probably where she should’ve spoken up to say that her head feels fine but she felt almost starstruck with Waverly cupping her face the way she was. Waverly’s eyes grew even more concerned at the silence however. “Nicole?”

“My head is fine,” Nicole finally said. Waverly’s face relaxed a little. “The medic on the field said he doubts I have a concussion.” At that, Waverly let out a sigh of relief that she hadn’t even known she was holding in. “I’m okay. I’m pretty bruised but I’m okay. I promise,” Nicole had said to her at the time. Waverly’s hands finally fell from Nicole’s face and instead wrapped around her neck and she pulled her into a firm hug. Nicole winced when she hit an already forming bruise but her hands still found their way to Waverly’s waist to pull her in a little closer.

“You scared me,” Waverly said into her ear. She pulled back to look Nicole in the eyes but keeps her arms draped over her shoulders. “That guy was _huge_ . He could’ve crushed you.” 

“But he didn’t!” Nicole reassured her. “I mean he definitely could have. But I’m okay.”

The rest of that night had gone by in a blur. The game ended shortly after the touchdown pass with the Blue Devils taking home the victory. Champ hadn’t stopped staring at Nicole and Waverly talking over on the sidelines since the later had run over there but Nicole had pretended not to notice (and, unbeknownst to Nicole, Waverly pretended as well). The weekend mainly consisted of Nicole taking it easy but there was also a doctor’s appointment to clear her for the next game.

Returning to school on Monday, Nicole feels incredible. She aches all over but all the guys on the team high five her or do one thing or another in the halls to show their appreciation for her hand in the big win. All the guys except Champ of course. Things don’t change for them much but there seems to be even more resentment lingering under the surface. She can’t tell if it’s because of the game or if it’s some sort of weird jealousy he has for what she and Waverly have. She and Waverly were really good friends and Champ seems to think that Nicole wants more than that. He’s right, of course, but Nicole will barely admit it to herself, let alone Champ Hardy. Speaking of Waverly, right as Nicole rounds the corner towards their calculus classroom, she sees the younger girl hanging up posters with Chrissy.

“Hey, Waverly,” Nicole calls as she walks towards the pair. Chrissy turns around first as Waverly is still very focused in hanging up the poster.

“Hey, Haught stuff,” Chrissy says, winking at her.

“Oh, hey Chrissy. Didn’t realize you changed your name to Waverly,” Nicole says, dripping with sarcasm.

“Oh, hey Nicole. Didn’t realize you turn into a bitch after you win games,” Chrissy says, echoing the tone and smile Nicole has on her face. Waverly looks over her shoulder at that moment to give a quick glare at Chrissy and then finishes taping up her poster.

“Guys, play nice for like one second,” she says turning around. “Hey, Nicole. How are you doing? How’s the head?” Nicole smiles at her concern but Waverly looks dead serious.

“The head was fine to begin with,” Nicole says with a laugh. “But everything else is pretty meh. Bruised all over but I’m good to go for this weekend’s game.”

“Oh right,” Chrissy interjects, “You were hit hard, weren’t you? Seriously surprised they didn’t call some sort of penalty on that one.”

“Yeah, I was too. I think we all were. Whatever though. Can’t do much now about it,” Nicole says shrugging. “So what are you guys hanging up?” Waverly lights up at the question as if that’s what she’s been waiting all morning to be asked (she was). Chrissy gestures over to her as if to give her the floor to speak and Waverly happily takes it.

“They’re posters for homecoming! Well, the homecoming dance. It’s in two weeks ― right after the homecoming game. Obviously. That’s how homecoming dances work,” Waverly quickly says with a quick laugh.

“Oh ,” Nicole says chuckling which causes Waverly to turn red. “I got it. Thanks.” Chrissy gives Waverly an odd look that Nicole can’t quite decipher and it looks like Waverly can’t either.

“Okay, well, with that, I am going to go to first period,” Chrissy says, turning to smile at Nicole. “See you two later. Have fun,” she adds in with a hint of something more.

“What’s up with her?” Nicole asks Waverly while watching Chrissy saunter away.

“Don’t worry about it,” Waverly says and quickly adds in “let’s get to class” before Nicole has the chance to say anything back.

* * *

 

Waverly takes Nicole’s hand to half-drag her to class. She knows that if she didn’t take that initiative, the two of them would end up standing in the hall trying to decipher Chrissy Nedley’s comment. She really, really did not want to do that this morning. She did not want to get to the conclusion that she knew she would get to. Instead, dragging to class and changing the subject would suffice for their morning conversation.

“So did you do the homework?” Waverly asks, dropping Nicole’s hand as they round the corner to the room. Nicole suddenly stops walking.

“There was homework?” She asks in a panic. Waverly stops a few steps ahead of her and thinks for a second before letting out an awkward laugh.

“Ooops. I guess there wasn’t. Sorry for the minor heart attack I caused you there,” Waverly says with a laugh. “I forgot that she was feeling nice for once and decided not to have us be tortured with the work.”

“Jesus, Waves. Warn a girl before you try to kill her next time,” Nicole sighs.

“Sorry,” Waverly smiles sheepishly at her. That’s twice now that she has officially felt stupid in front of Nicole this morning alone.

“Don’t sweat it, Waves. Just remember that I have to get you back for that sooner than later,” Nicole teases. The bell rings and the two girls quickly turn into their classroom. After class, they part ways to get to the rest of their schedules.

Waverly has a silent study hall with Chrissy but they both managed to finagle a pass out of the teacher running the homecoming committee so they could “hang posters” during the period (aka hang out and ditch their study hall). The two of them grab a few of the posters to seem like they were actually working and find a quiet hall to sit down and spend most of the period chatting in.

“So,” Chrissy starts.

“Yeah?”

“How long?”

“How long what? The period? I think 45 minutes…”

“No,” Chrissy laughs, “How long have you had the hots for Haught?” Waverly blinks.

“Sorry, what?”

“Oh come on, Waverly. I’ve known you how long? I can tell when you have a crush on someone at this point.”

“I, uh, I don’t know,” Waverly says. “I mean, I didn’t really think of it that way.”

“Uh huh. You didn’t really think that you had the hots for her? Or think about the timeline of when?”

“Um, both?”

“Okay, fair enough,” Chrissy laughs, “But you _have_ to ask her to homecoming.”

* * *

Nicole hates Mondays. So much. No matter how cliche it is, she’ll always despise the day. Mondays end up being the busiest day of the week for her with football and her classes. It’s one of the days that, instead of a study, she has a double period for her forensic science class and, instead of getting to eat lunch with Waverly and the rest of the NKOTT, she has to catch up on the work she normally does during study. Mondays suck.

This Monday, however, Jeremy seems to have made himself at home in the library during their normal lunch period as well. He’s hunched over at one of the tables staring at a science textbook as if it’s the most annoying thing on the planet. When Nicole reaches him, she puts her hand on his shoulder causing him to leap a foot into the air.

“Jesus, Nicole, you have got to at least cough before that,” Jeremy says, fixing the papers on the desk he had pushed aside when he jumped.

“Sorry,” Nicole says with a chuckle, “You looked so focused and I couldn’t help myself. What are you working on?”  
“Oh, y’know, my AP Chemistry work that’s due in forty-five minutes that I have _barely_ started because the new Spider-Man game came out last week and that is just way more interesting than anything in this textbook.”

“If it makes you feel better, I am one hundred percent just starting my psychology paper that is also due in forty-five minutes so I think you might be in better shape than I am.”

“Well that’s a relief? Maybe? I don’t know. Do you think we can use the fact that we played in the game on Friday as an excuse?”

“No,” Nicole laughs, “We absolutely cannot use that as an excuse.” Jeremy shrugs as Nicole pulls up a chair across from him and pulls out her notebook and psych book. The two work mostly quietly for the rest of the period with only a few breaks to poke fun at each other or get advice on their work. Nicole likes working with Jeremy both on and off the field. They have a very easy rhythm and she never feels like she has to hide anything.

After school and after practice, Nicole sees Waverly and Chrissy sitting on the bleachers talking. They’re practice let out earlier than football but Nicole didn’t expect them to be waiting around for her or Jeremy.

“Nicole!” Chrissy yells when she spots her. She’s waving her over and Nicole happily obliges. Waverly, for some reason, is glaring at Chrissy. “Nicole, y’know how homecoming is coming up?”

“Uh, yeah? Were you not there when we talked about it this morning?” Nicole seriously asks, now confused.

“No I totally was. Anyways, Waverly was wondering —”

“Waverly was wondering if you wanted to help set up for the dance!” Waverly cuts in to finish. “ _I_ was wondering if you could help set up.” Chrissy looks amused and annoyed at the same time when her friend laughs an awkward laugh.

“Uh,” Nicole starts while looking looking between the two girls in front of her, “I think I can help out a little, yeah. I mean, I’ll have to figure out how my schedule and that schedule line up but you have my number, Waves. Text me more details later?”

“Yeah okay,” Waverly says with that same awkward laugh from moments ago.

* * *

 

**Chrissy** (5:04pm)

Chicken

**Waverly** (5:10pm)

Shut up

  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Questions, comments, or just want to say hi? Reach out via twitter (@skylawrites) or tumblr (sly-sky)!


End file.
